Cross examination of an arrested suspect during interview.

IsisElektra

It's my understanding that if one has been arrested for an offence and brought to the Garda station for interview, the Gardai cannot cross examine that person during that interview.
Question 1: is my understanding of the above statement correct?

Question 2: could the following sentences be classed as cross examination and if so could the case be A) thrown out of court or would the interview or any part of that interview be admissible as evidence in a trial?

"My opinion is you lost the plot that night, do you drink a lot?"

"My opinion is one slap did not do that to (name removed) face"
Please excuse my complete ignorance of all things legal.

johnnyskeleton

IsisElektra wrote: »

It's my understanding that if one has been arrested for an offence and brought to the Garda station for interview, the Gardai cannot cross examine that person during that interview.
Question 1: is my understanding of the above statement correct?

Question 2: could the following sentences be classed as cross examination and if so could the case be A) thrown out of court or would the interview or any part of that interview be admissible as evidence in a trial?

"My opinion is you lost the plot that night, do you drink a lot?"

"My opinion is one slap did not do that to (name removed) face"
Please excuse my complete ignorance of all things legal.

Cross examination is the entitlement of a party in court to challenge the evidence produced by the other party. It is not really something that is relevant to Garda Stations.

In a Garda interview, they are entitled to put questions to the accused person so that they can investigate it and so that they can record the person's response to the allegations. Part of that can involve suggesting that the person committed the offence.

lifeandtimes

You can be interviewed by 2 Gardai at the same time, they will be entitled to both ask you questions meaning their questions will cross over.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

BaronVon

Yes, for about the last 2 years or so, but most suspects don't use it.

IsisElektra

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Cross examination is the entitlement of a party in court to challenge the evidence produced by the other party. It is not really something that is relevant to Garda Stations.

In a Garda interview, they are entitled to put questions to the accused person so that they can investigate it and so that they can record the person's response to the allegations. Part of that can involve suggesting that the person committed the offence.

Again sorry for my ignorance.. on the citizens.ie website I found this....

In the process of taking down your statement, the Gardaí cannot cross examine you. They are allowed to ask you questions in order to clarify anything you say which is unclear. When you are finished giving your statement the Gardaí either read out the statement to you, or invite you to read the statement yourself.

so Yes I understand that they can suggest you did an offence, but..could the words "My opinion is you lost the plot that night, do you drink a lot?"

and/or the words

"My opinion is one slap did not do that to (name removed) face"

be regarded as cross examination?

On a slightly different but related topic...: Suppose the victim of an alleged assault made a complaint to the Gardai which resulted in an arrest of the suspect, and the "victim" said in their witness statement that they were terrified for their life and unsure whether to make a statement or not as they were worried about potential repercussions... And then went on to continue contacting the person they said assaulted them for months by text, phone call, whatsapp and so on, despite having made a statement that they were very anxious about those supposed repercussions. How seriously would they take that witness/"victim"s word that they were indeed terrified etc of the alleged suspect?

Hope that makes sense :-)

johnnyskeleton

I wouldn't take what is said on citizensinformation.ie as gospel

Victor

IsisElektra wrote: »

How seriously would they take that witness/"victim"s word that they were indeed terrified etc of the alleged suspect?

If the person who is the subject of the complaint has a position of power (spouse, teacher, employer) over the complainant, I don't see further contact as a problem.

source

IsisElektra wrote: »

Again sorry for my ignorance.. on the citizens.ie website I found this....

In the process of taking down your statement, the Gardaí cannot cross examine you. They are allowed to ask you questions in order to clarify anything you say which is unclear. When you are finished giving your statement the Gardaí either read out the statement to you, or invite you to read the statement yourself.

so Yes I understand that they can suggest you did an offence, but..could the words "My opinion is you lost the plot that night, do you drink a lot?"

There's a difference between a cautioned statement and an interview, a cautioned statement is usually used where all the relevant facts are known. It is then simply a case of the accused telling their side of the story.

An interview is used to discover facts, and determine the guilt of a suspect.

In the former, the accused is allowed to tell their story, with queries put to the accused for clarification.

With the latter, the Gardai put questions to the accused to try to find out what really happened and as already pointed out, to determine the guilt of a person.